Evolving Hungarian wine culture

After the negative trend of recent years METRO communications manager Yvette Krubl experienced a positive turn in their wine sales. METRO places great emphasis on meeting frequently changing consumer demand, therefore the company keeps transforming the assortment of wines they offer. Ms Krubl’s view is that the wine buying and drinking habits of Hungarian consumers have kept evolving in recent years and people have started looking for quality products with a good price/value ratio. METRO also sensed an increased demand for rosé and the consumption of sparkling wines is becoming trendy too. METRO customers are mainly looking for 0.75l products but 3l, 5l and 10l bag-in-boxes are also available. Since customers are typically looking for the products of Hungarian winemakers, 95 percent of the more than 600 different wines in METRO stores are Hungarian, coming from both up-and-coming wineries and established ones such as Nyakas Cellars, Mészáros Pál Wine House and Cellar, Royal Tokaji Winery or Günzer Tamás Winery. It is needless to say though that New World and French wines can also be found on the shelves. METRO regularly organises tasting sessions and every six month publishes a comprehensive wine catalogue. On 6 September METRO’s Budaörs, Debrecen, Pécs and Szombathely stores will host a special wine festival where winemakers will recommend their wines to shoppers. METRO’s Customer Academy regularly announces wine courses, to teach participants about how to taste wine, how to pair them with food and how to recommend them to guests.